Category Archives: Parables for Financial Peace

Please forgive me. I am a Christian. I love Jesus and follow him. However, I am a logical man and have grown up in modern America where the intelligentsia of our culture embrace naturalistic explanations and views the supernatural as myth. These smart folk have intimidated my faith at times.

Heaven is the ultimate gift Jesus gives us. It has inexplicable value. It is our real home, where love is deep and runs pure. Heaven contains beauty beyond description and joy more full than one has ever experienced. The ones we love most and fear separation from will be there before us or shortly after. But I haven’t fully experienced heaven yet, so I have let those who don’t see or know the author of creation rob me of one of the most precious aspects of that treasure in the field – heaven. Jesus, I do believe but help my unbelief. Continue reading Heaven the ultimate!→

A few years ago, I took a course that was offered at my church. It cost some money and required a commitment. This might turn some people off but truthfully – Doesn’t most worthwhile things in life require both? I have no regrets, and a lot of appreciation. The course was fantastic and the Lord used the course to help grow me.

Seeing the obvious excesses can be difficult when you’re in the middle of it all. If we’ve fallen victim to these extremes, we might find ourselves defending them. Let’s look at two, which impact our finances. Continue reading Caught in the Current of Excess→

I often formulate my opinion by building a framework of truth in my mind. When I encounter an opinion that differs from mine, I of course, immediately know the other viewpoint is wrong. By definition they’re wrong. How could they be right if they disagree with me? Later, I wonder why my growth has stagnated.

There are three key things in the story of the Rich Young Ruler that people miss. The story is about an eager young man who fails to value Jesus more than his wealth. In the end he goes away sad.

The three points

First, how did this man approach Jesus? Did he approach him as a flawed man needing a savior? Or did he approach him in a manner saying, I am OK tell me so? Who needs a savior, if they don’t need to be saved? This man wanted a pat on the back. He didn’t want a change in his heart. Jesus wanted this man’s heart changed. Hence, he challenged him in a hard way based on the fact that he presented himself as someone who had ‘arrived’. Continue reading What People Miss about the Rich Young Ruler→

For many the math is simple. More money equals happiness and respect. It is one of the truths we learn in this life. But is it true? Many might deny this with their words, but do their actions speak otherwise? Continue reading Does More $ = Happiness?→

I suspect there would be many green Americans, if envy could actually turn you green. Marketing leverages this emotion in order to generate sales. Although we might deny such marketing tricks work on us, it’s evidently working on someone, otherwise sales and marketing agencies would not employ this strategy.

An individual can become sick with envy. Some believe the color green became associated with envy because infections can actually turn green. Infection can be deadly if left untreated. The same is true with envy.

Saul and Jonathan were a father – son team whose lives both ended sadly and abruptly on the same day. It appears that Jonathan trusted his father; because of this, some speculate that Saul was a good one. The odd thing about this though, is that we discover his trust was misplaced.

Maybe he was a good dad at one point but I’m fairly certain he didn’t remain that way. As Saul traveled down the road away from God often out of expediency and self-absorption, his fatherhood suffered.